If H1N1 flu isn't the burning feeling on everyone's foreheads, then "how can I catch it?" is the burning question on everyone's minds.

Yesterday's report of the diagnosis of H1N1 in a cat in Iowa is just the latest in how unpredictable the virus is, and many uncertainties remain.

By now, most of us are familiar with common methods that the H1N1 virus can be transmitted and the importance of washing our hands. But can the H1N1 flu virus be spread through water in swimming pools, spas, water parks, interactive fountains, and other treated recreational water venues?

Find out what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends for people who use recreational water venues, both public and private. And remember: flu season or any other time, it's unhealthy to swallow pool or spa water.

At a farm/ranch in San Juan Capistrano, I came across this interesting arrangement of recently-picked squash and gourds. I don't think there's any symbolism going on here in this particular arrangement; whoever created this was probably just doing it for fun. What's your take on it?

Photo by Lisa Hallett Taylor

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There are some obvious and not-so-obvious reasons for getting a pool cover, if you don't already have one. When you're not using the pool, it makes sense to cover it to keep leaves and debris out, and so you don't lose heat. But that's only two reasons. Find out the other eight reasons why you should be covering your spa or swimming pool.

I suspect the creative abilities of many seasonal decorators are fueled by that last-minute rush. Especially with Halloween, which has an element of surprise and kind of depends on darkness to really enjoy its full impact. Headless monsters and killer clowns look oddly out of place on a sunny autumn afternoon in Southern California, or anywhere for that matter.

So, day-before or day-of decorating for Halloween is fairly common at our house. One thing I have become is a very seasoned Halloween outdoor decorator. One of my favorite display methods is making objects look like they're floating or are suspended in mid-air. During college at Cal Poly, Pomona, I worked at the campus art gallery and learned all kinds of display techniques. One of them, hanging lightweight objects with monofilament -- or fishing wire -- is a trick I use quite often when decorating. Besides creating an element of fun and fantasy, it shows off every angle of an object, instead of displaying it flat against a wall.

Last year, when I reviewed a trio of yard ghosts from Grandin Road to review, I saw their potential to go beyond mere yard stakes. About an hour after opening the box, my ghosts were happily hovering mid-air between my yard and my neighbor's. This weekend, they may float over the deck in the backyard for my daughter's birthday party.

Follow this simple step-by-step for purchased or homemade Halloween ghosts and you, too, can host a ghostly gathering in your yard this weekend.

Photo by Lisa Hallett Taylor

This just in...

Halloween yard haunts seem to be going full-throttle this year, and I've heard of everything from a recreation of a few props from the Transformers films on someone's lawn, to another yard haunter's re-enactment of the crash-landing of the U.S. Airways plane on the Hudson River, with the homeowner dressed up as Captain "Skully." I'm not promoting or condoning either of these yard haunts, just relaying what has been reported elsewhere.

But there's a yard haunt set for Saturday night in Racine, Wisconsin, that I'd love to see. According to The Journal Times, Racine resident Steve Hooper and 11 of his friends and family members will be performing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance every 20 minutes during Hooper's scheduled yard haunt and trick-or-treating.

Hooper and his dance troop have been rehearsing and will be in full costume. "This is all in pure fun, and we really get nothing more from it than a few screams and childhood thrills," Hooper told The Journal Times. "We would love to see as many people show up as possible," he added.

Remember the royalty of all lawn ornaments -- the pink flamingo? A popular retro image that recalls post-World War II tract houses, built-in brick barbecues, ladies in "patio dresses" (yes, there really was such a thing), and cement or plastic "ornaments" stuck in that precisely cut sea of Kentucky Blue or Dichondra. Sometimes the ornaments took the form of frozen-while-grazing deer, bunnies, squirrels, jockeys, gnomes or umbrella-holding toads atop toadstools.

Oh, a few remain, here and there, but in drought-stricken Southern California, a solid patch of pristine green lawn is getting harder to find. And if it's anything like my front yard, native grasses have replaced the lawn. Last I saw, a flamingo and polyresin squirrel were enshrouded in zebra grass, which reached about 7 feet high this summer. We've called off the search.

So this year, last year's favorite new Halloween decorations, four Skel-a-Mingos, will be hanging out poolside among the low-growing festuca glauca and osteospermum. We're also taking the cue from others, and decorating for Halloween in the backyard -- perfect for a Halloween birthday party this weekend.

This way, too, I can keep my eye on my flamingos.

Photo of my Skel-a-Mingos on a neighbor's lawn by Lisa Hallett Taylor

More Halloween Decoration Reviews

Hauntingly Beautiful Halloween Decorations

You, with your spooky-looking jack-o'lanterns and purple spiderweb-gunned hedges -- there may be some competition for the city's "Best Halloween Yard Decor" award this year.

Have you seen what your neighbors have been up to since Labor Day? All those sounds of hammers and power tools working overtime might not be for the deck you thought they were building. Think spooky, scare zone, chamber-of-horrors -type do-it-yourself projects. That's right: your neighbors are going to be hosting their first Halloween yard haunt on Saturday.

You've heard the terms, perhaps on TV: home haunt, yard haunt and even porch haunt. So what exactly is a Halloween yard haunt? Better find out, if you want to keep up with the Addams family.

Photo by Lisa Hallett Taylor

Looking for something slightly more festive for your upcoming Halloween party than a couple of jack-o'lanterns on your porch or patio?

Britta Peterson, Webmistress of the Dark, guides you through homemade Halloween prop design and party planning in her book, Eerie Elegance: How to Host a Haunt and Other Fabulous Frights.

Peterson is not a professional party planner -- although she could be, with more than 15 years of hosting Halloween parties under her belt. Her first parties were hosted during college in an apartment, and it's only in recent years that she's been able to carry her eerily elegant designs outdoors into her own yard.

Peterson's ideas are fun, creative and resourceful, with an emphasis on "Frugal Festivities" (one of the chapters in her book).

Discover more about the lovely Halloween hostess (who will be throwing her annual bash this weekend) in my interview with Britta Peterson.

Hosting a party the weekend of October 31st? Might want to have a copy of Eerie Elegance on hand for inspiration (Compare prices).

Idea Gallery of Eerie & Elegant Outdoor Decor
What Exactly is a Halloween Yard Haunt?

Photo courtesy of Britta Peterson

Even lifeless dummies who are cast members of your Halloween yard haunt need a new costume each year.

Last year, these dummies served as  distinguished but disturbing busts in a Halloween display at Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar, California. This year, they got an entirely new look by being wrapped up, mummy style.

Tres shriek?

Photo by Lisa Hallett Taylor
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More Halloween Yard Haunt Decor

Filtering through my email and Google Alerts the other day, this item got my attention. It's from the blotter of the Mt. Vernon, Illinois, Police Department, as reported in the Mt. Vernon Register-News:

Thefts

• Police received a report at 7:45 a.m. Thursday that scarecrows were stolen from a fall display in the 100 block of S.E. Crescent Drive.
• Police received a report at 7:56 a.m. Thursday that Halloween decorations were stolen from a residence in the 800 block of N. Linden Drive.
• Police received a report at 8:07 a.m. Thursday that yard decorations were stolen from a residence in the 4000 block of Woodglen Lane.
• Police received a report at 8:47 a.m. Thursday that yard decorations were stolen from a residence in the 4000 block of Lilac Lane.

Now I don't claim to be a Velma Dinkley or Honey West, but a quick survey of our thieves' timeline leads me to conclude:

• The culprits were on a not-so-early morning joyride.
• They were looking for a "budget-friendly" way to decorate their yard(s) for Halloween.
• The 40-minute gap between the third and fourth heists means they probably stopped for donuts and coffee. Or maybe they hit another house and nobody has noticed or reported missing Halloween decorations yet.
• The scarecrows didn't exactly do their jobs.
• Even if these Einsteins managed to pull off their crime unnoticed, did they forget that their newly acquired decor might stick out like a pulsating, freshly lacerated sore thumb now that it's been reported missing? Duh.

My final piece of advice for these miscreants: next time, go the do-it-yourself route and make your own decorations. You'll enjoy your home-yard haunt a whole lot more, and the citizens of your community will thank you for not setting your unwelcome feet off their lawns and porches.

If they'd only looked at these great Halloween yard decorations first...